Government & Politics

Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin renewed her call to open the Fulton Mall to automobile traffic at today’s annual State of Downtown Breakfast.

Swearengin told the crowd of business leaders and downtown boosters that her number one job for the next four years is to rally support for her downtown plan, which includes the first major changes to Fresno’s former main street in the last five decades.

The California Supreme Court appears poised to leave intact the right of local governments to ban medical marijuana dispensaries. Ben Adler has more on the court’s oral arguments today in a case involving a dispensary and the city of Riverside.

Here’s the core question for the justices in this case: Do state laws that allow the use of medical marijuana trump the long-standing powers of local governments to make their own land use and zoning decisions? Many justices appeared skeptical. Here’s Justice Joyce Kennard pressing the attorney representing the dispensary:

The author of a bill that would exempt 20,000 California union members from last year’s pension overhaul is defending the measure against criticism that it breaks a promise to voters who just approved tax increases.

Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo says he introduced the bill because of a conflict between the new state pension law and U.S. labor law that applies to 20,000 local and regional public transit workers. As a result, he says, $2 billion in federal transportation funds are at risk.

There appears to be significant bipartisan support in the California legislature for the proposed federal immigration overhaul under discussion in Congress. But as Ben Adler reports from Sacramento, some Republicans still have concerns.

Twenty Democrats and five Republicans stood together to say they want Congress to get something done after years of putting it off.

There’s a push in the California legislature to provide tax relief for struggling homeowners who are forced into short sales. As Marianne Russ reports from Sacramento, the new legislation has bipartisan support.

A Democratic state Senator introduced the bill, and Republican Senator Joel Anderson has signed on as a co-author. He says homeowners going through a short sale need help.

California lawmakers say they will seek consensus as they look for ways to reduce gun violence. As Amy Quinton reports from Sacramento, they heard from gun rights advocates, law enforcement, and gun violence prevention experts at a joint legislative hearing.

Lawmakers had a chance to hold the kinds of guns and ammunition used in recent mass shootings. They saw how easy it can be to change a gun magazine.

"He can do it in very rapid succession…that gun today can be purchased in California," said Bureau of Firearms Chief Stephen Lindley.

He quoted Franklin Roosevelt and William Butler Yeats. And he told the stories of Pharaoh and Joseph and the “Little Engine that Could.” Governor Jerry Brown turned to every trick in his book Thursday to push an ambitious agenda in his State of the State address – all while urging fiscal discipline from the Democratic-controlled legislature. We have two reports today from Ben Adler and from Amy Quinton.

“We have wrought in just two years a solid and enduring budget and by God, we will preserve and keep it that way for years to come," said Brown.

In a wide-ranging State of the State Address today Brown quoted the bible, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Franklin Roosevelt, and laid out a blueprint for his next two years in office. He included a warning for Democrats who might be eager to spend more on social programs now that the state no longer has a deficit.

Photo used under Creative Commons from Andy Patterson / Modern Relics / http://www.flickr.com/photos/modernrelics/4461010654/

The most important members of the California legislature this year might not be the two Democratic leaders - despite the two-thirds supermajorities they hold in each chamber. And it almost certainly won't be the Republicans.

They've been courted for key votes in recent years but now don't have the numbers to block any bills on their own. As Ben Adler reports from Sacramento, the leverage in this legislative session may well lie with a newly-critical voting bloc: moderate Democrats.

The waiting game has just begun for both sides in the battle over the outsourcing of Fresno’s residential trash service.

For the past month opponents of Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin’s plan to outsource the city’s home trash service have hustled to collect signatures in order to meet a January 18 deadline to put the decision in the hands of voters.

More than 50 people escorted around 35,000 signatures in seven sealed white boxes into the City Clerk’s Office on Friday.

California’s Public Utilities Commission has a math problem: Its budget staff has been misreporting the balance in special funds the agency manages. That’s the finding of a new state audit that blamed the mistakes on “general confusion and lack of knowledge.”

The Public Utilities Commission manages 14 special funds that use monthly fees from consumers to pay for special programs like the Universal Lifeline telephone service for low-income Californians. It turns out that in 2011, agency staff miscalculated how much those funds held.

The California High Speed Rail Authority will work with Amtrak to seek out manufacturers of high speed trains. As Amy Quinton reports from Sacramento, the two systems hope by teaming up they can lower costs.

Amtrak and the California High Speed Rail Authority say by working together they hope to advance high speed projects on both the east and west coast.

Amtrak is looking to eventually purchase 32 trains for its east coast system, and California is hoping to acquire 27 trains that operate 220 miles per hour. California

Governor Jerry Brown’s new California budget proposal marks an end to the crippling deficits that have plagued California for years. It’s also an attempt to make major policy changes – without big increases in spending. But the governor’s message of fiscal restraint could find a warmer reception from Republicans than from his fellow Democrats. Capital Public Radio's Ben Adler and Amy Quinton bring us this two-part report from Sacramento.

Today was swearing-in day for a new crop of elected officials at Fresno City Hall. Two new council members, Paul Capgriolio representing District 4 and Steve Brandau representing District 2, were sworn in for the first time, as well as Lee Brand who was reelected to represent District 6.

A defiant Governor Jerry Brown is proclaiming an end to the state of emergency in California prisons and demanding that the federal courts let the state run its own corrections system again. But as Ben Adler reports from Sacramento, there’s no guarantee the courts will do as he asks.